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McCain selects Palin as VP candidate

Some rather historic news this morning: McCain selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate.

Palin becomes the first woman to serve on a GOP presidential ticket and the first Alaskan to appear on a national ticket. Her selection guarantees we'll see either a non-white President or a female Vice President.

My initial reaction was that the selection may backfire, and voters will write it off as "pandering" or somehow disingenuous. But, upon reflection, I realized those motivations have resulted in every other VP selection in the past - what good is the VP anyway?

Then I became concerned with whether she has sufficient experience to run the show (should McCain kick the bucket).

Let's compare Palin and Obama...

Palin, after a stint as a city mayor, won a huge victory over an incumbent Governor - in the primaries no less - and has since managed state affairs with a very high approval rating. She's guided budgets, managed the national guard, and pushed through the single largest construction project in North America (a new natural gas pipeline).

Obama, on paper at least, has really only been a successful state senator. Sure, he won a [largely uncontested] election to become a US Senator, but he's practically been running for President since. I'm unable to think of any major piece of legislation he's championed since getting elected.

Upon comparing these two, I think it's going to be hard for Democrats to attack Palin as "unqualified."

Instead, I think Democrats are going to turn to REAL issues when attacking Palin: just off the top of my head there's gun control, abortion rights, and capital punishment. And that makes me happy - like many Americans, I hate when the election rhetoric devolves into petty attacks. So strap yourselves in, it's going to be a very interesting couple of months...

Any other thoughts?

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on August 29, 2008 (boomark / email).